The Story Giant

The Story Giant
Brian Patten

A magical story which weaves together fifty world tales – of immense appeal to both adults and children.‘One day a story fell from heaven and landed on a giant’s tongue… ’The Story Giant is a master illusionist and the ur-storyteller. In his memory exists every tale ever told in the world – except for one, which has eluded him for millennia.In a last desperate attempt to track down this lost tale, he draws four children from the different corners of the globe into his castle while they sleep, there to exchange the tales they know from their own cultures, to see if between them they can piece together the elusive missing story. For if he cannot track it down and install it in his memory, the whole facade of the castle will crumble and fall, and the Story Giant himself will die. And if he does, so will all the stories, and the world will be a poorer, duller, grimmer place.Fifty tales are told within this magical framework in Brian Patten’s inimitable style – from Bruh Rabbit to the tale of how St George killed the Dragon (except it wasn’t St George – it was his mother, with a pudding…) but none of them are the missing tale. The castle falls; the giant dies. But all is not lost – the four children dream themselves back to the ruins to concoct the missing tale themselves…

THE STORY GIANT

BY

BRIAN PATTEN

Dedication (#ulink_ddab1058-5bdd-5461-978c-d2f6f54d3535)

For Linda Cookson

And in memory of Adrian Henri

Contents

Cover (#u80ccf738-0ecf-57b8-a4e8-f9583c205a96)

Title Page (#ua07db266-cc23-5c67-b0f9-18aaf3c5b371)

Dedication (#u8d50ff55-555c-586d-a3e8-f1e1b3cc31f8)

Part One (#ulink_52e1831b-dca2-576a-a4a7-969680bca870)

The First Story (#ulink_d57e2962-5e55-5ab7-9636-363607f543f0)

The Man Who Killed Two Thieves With a Chicken (#ulink_19f33639-5dce-5c99-b1d9-3c7314dbdb43)

How Wars Begin (#ulink_b495369d-c5a8-5eb9-9ba1-d833fa470b15)

The Little Monster That Grew and Grew (#ulink_fba771ad-37af-521a-8120-413403056c68)

The Tramp and the Outcome of War (#ulink_583d9330-9e75-570e-a97d-43dc5ed1cb3a)

The Difference Between Heaven and Hell (#ulink_068bbc79-9a9f-58e5-b7ab-5cb471ab9845)

When Immortality was Lost (#ulink_dc541393-9ba7-50a4-99cc-0ba01cfa8c4c)

Supremacy (#ulink_495907c9-c930-50da-9566-c954a7d63525)

John and Paul (#ulink_dc1fda6e-577e-5013-a9e7-9d2238acb8b8)

The Man who Bored People to Death (#ulink_8fb7b6b4-c38e-542a-bdfa-5e55cb893ef0)

The Spirit-Foxes (#litres_trial_promo)

Hope (#litres_trial_promo)

The Clothes That Were Invited to Dinner (#litres_trial_promo)

A Simple Trick (#litres_trial_promo)

Degrees of Sorrow and Happiness (#litres_trial_promo)

The Shadow (#litres_trial_promo)

A Handful of Corn (#litres_trial_promo)

The Lamp (#litres_trial_promo)

The Place Ahead (#litres_trial_promo)

The Monster in the Desert (#litres_trial_promo)

The Dragon Slayer’s Mum (#litres_trial_promo)

Tiddalik the Frog (#litres_trial_promo)

The Owl’s Trick (#litres_trial_promo)

Brer Rabbit and Brer Alligator (#litres_trial_promo)

The Talking Skull (#litres_trial_promo)

Man is Cunning, and Cunning is Man (#litres_trial_promo)

The Human Tongue (#litres_trial_promo)

The Band of Gold (#litres_trial_promo)

Worry (#litres_trial_promo)

Three of a Kind (#litres_trial_promo)

Death and the Trickster’s Name (#litres_trial_promo)

The Unfinished Story (#litres_trial_promo)

Dame Goody’s Eye (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Two (#litres_trial_promo)

The Scent of Knowledge (#litres_trial_promo)

Gratitude (#litres_trial_promo)

Jan Coo (#litres_trial_promo)